LinkedIn Updates and Changes | The best kept LinkedIn?? strategy you've never heard of! | Upcoming Events and more

In this month’s newsletter:

?? New LinkedIn? features, updates and changes

?? You may have missed: The best kept LinkedIn?? strategy you've never heard of!

?? Recent and upcoming events

Latest LinkedIn New Features and Updates

?? LinkedIn using our content and data to train its AI

Never pay much attention to your Settings and Privacy? You DO need to read this one.

It’s short but important because LinkedIn is using our content and our data to train its AI.

By default, this setting is turned to On, meaning we allow LinkedIn and its affiliates to use all our content and data. The only upside is we can switch this off.

Find it in Settings & Privacy under Data privacy. If you don’t want all your ideas, opinions, knowledge and expertise stolen and reused without your consent do this today! Learn more here. Check out the LinkedIn and generative AI (GAI) FAQs.

Profiles

?? Demise of Community Top Voice Badge

LinkedIn is retiring the brown (or gold, depending on your screen) Community Top Voice Badge that we can earn for contributing to collaborative articles. The central issue is the quality control of the contributions (comments). It’s likely that these have been overrun by AI-generated comments which is ironic given that the articles themselves are created using AI.

From Oct 8, the badges will disappear as their 60-day run from the date they were added to profiles expires.

LinkedIn claim that’s no reason to not continue to contribute to collaborative articles but there will be little point henceforth.

More information here.

?? More button changing to Resources?

Spotted on a client’s profile was a change from the More button in the intro section to a button reading Resources. There was no change in what’s included in this drop-down menu but the heading isn’t visible to visitors to the profile.

Posting & newsfeed

?? Quote from article as new post

Select a piece of content from an article to turn into a post. Left unchanged, the post begins with the quote as text and adds a link to the article below with good-sized link preview image.

?? New look for links in posts and comments

These are now in a blue box to make them stand out.

?? Easier access to draft posts

When we draft but don’t publish a post, it’s not currently obvious how we get back to it. LinkedIn is making this easier by changing the ‘Start a post’ box to ‘Draft: [first few words of your post]. If there are no drafts, the box defaults to ‘Start a post’.

?? Platform-wide native video being tested

LinkedIn is testing making all video functions within the platform native. This may mean we won't need apps like StreamYard for our LinkedIn lives, we'll be able to record video direct into the feed and we may even see video events and comments. What a gamechanger!

?? Highlighted comment for easier spotting

When we click on a notification about a comment we want to respond to, it takes us to the post comment thread. This update turns the comment bright blue for 4-5 seconds so we can easily see it. It then fades back to the usual pale blue. In dark mode the comment shows as dark grey before reverting to the lighter colour.

?? Reply to comment redesigned

LinkedIn has been playing with the UX (user experience) again, this time the recipient is comment replies. There’ve been 5 changes: the connection level has been removed, the timestamp added recently has gone, the reply automatically tags the commenter at the beginning, the emojis and image buttons move around a bit and there’s now a Reply button.

?? AI added to ‘Start a post’ box

A I keeps getting more and more pervasive! Now we’re seeing it as a prompt in the ‘Start a post’ section. Premium feature.

?? New portal to interactive video feed

When the new TikTok style video feed showed up some months ago there was no easy way to access it. We had to find a video in our usual feed that had also been placed in the new feed and use the ‘Swipe up for more videos’ prompt. At the time, we were told there’d be a Video button added to our Home screens on the app and some people seem now to have this. The rest of us though may need to make do for now with a new ‘Videos for you’ prompt in our feeds which does the same thing – access the video feed. It’s worth noting that there has been a big shift toward short portrait videos in our feeds recently on the back of the introduction of this new button.

?? Edit scheduled posts

Until now, once we’d scheduled a post we couldn’t go back and edit it ahead of the posting time. Editing could only be done after the post was live. Now, we can edit up until 10 minutes before the scheduled posting time. We can make changes to the content, the media, and the posting time including making it live immediately. What can’t be edited yet are polls. To access the edit function click on the clock icon and in ‘View all scheduled posts’, choose the post to edit and click the [ … ].

?? Scheduling polls now possible

Until now it’s not been possible to schedule polls, unlike all other formats. LinkedIn has now made that possible and it works the same way – by clicking the clock to the left of the Post button at the bottom right of our post.

?? Easy multi-tagging in post comments

Tag multiple people who’ve commented in the same post thread in your reply by simply clicking Reply below each comment. They’ll all show up in one comment box saving you the effort of retagging them. This is a great way to thank multiple people at once.

?? Further changes to comments

Recently comments and replies began being seen as a thread with some wording change. This latest iteration includes:

? Collapsible option for replies to comments

? Load more replies replaced by ‘See XX replies’

?? GIFs return to Newsletters and Articles

It seems these disappeared when the comments section changed but was unintentional as they are now back both in the Header image and within the content.

Messaging & Networking

?? New Drafts folder added to messaging on app

Started a message on the app, left it and want to get back to it? Until now, they would just appear in the ‘Write a message’ box at the bottom of an open message. Now they sit nicely in a new Drafts folder that sits among the Focused, Unread, InMail etc boxes in Messaging.

?? 2 new networking prompts (networking)

? ‘Introduce yourself’

An AI-powered messaging and invite feature that pops up in the Highlights section of a profile we’re visiting. The feature uses our mutual profiles, networks and activity to find common ground that gets included in (a generic, meaningless) connection invite message. On the upside we can add images, videos and files to these messages, plus create our own subject line.

? Follow-up message After we’ve connected with someone new a box appears inviting us send a message to our new connection. When opened, it’s already been partly populated with a really dumb message. Don’t send these and treat ones you receive with great caution. And depending on how you’re viewing these it’s easy for the default text to not be visible to you so you write your message and the default one hangs off the end. Sometimes this message seems to disappear and defaults back to the one above, ‘Introduce myself’.

Company pages

?? My Company and Employee Advocacy tabs disappearing from company pages

Admins are receiving notifications that these two tabs will be removed in October. The reason given: ‘To help our members and customers better engage with the audiences they care about and continue to build their brands.’

?? Apply for company page verification

When launched, it was made clear verification would be bestowed by LinkedIn on complying company pages in due course. Now we can apply to have our page verified via Settings / Verification controls although there’s no indication how long the process will take.

?? Pages that follow your company page included in Followers

It can sometimes be useful to see what pages are following ours. Now when we go to Analytics / Followers the ‘All Followers’ section offers the option of ‘Pages’. This shows the company name, logo, follower count, industry, location and when they began following our page.

?? Extended auto-invites for Premium for Pages

Premium for pages continues to be enhanced with new features. First, anyone who engaged on company page content would be automatically invited to follow the page (no admin effort necessary). Now LinkedIn is extending this to send auto-invites to people who engage with posts from admins of our Page, specifically when our company is mentioned in the post. The update to this feature is currently being rolled out.

?? Change to admin settings on pages

Page admins may spot NEW on their dashboard alongside Settings. This will lead to the notification: We’ve reorganized your settings to make things easier to find.

?? Brands able to sponsor newsletters from profiles

Social Media Today, LLC reports that following the launch of sponsored newsletters for company pages, organisations can now put their branding on popular newsletters created by thought leaders in their niche.

Miscellaneous

?? Job poster verification

With fake job postings abounding, this new feature will help jobseekers determine if the company posting the job and/or the person posting the job are verified by LinkedIn. So far, only large US companies seem to have company page verification so this is of limited use elsewhere. But pages can now apply for it.

?? Reduced emailing of recommended posts by Group admins

Previously group admins could recommend 1 post and the notification email would go out immediately. Now, it’s possible to recommend up to 3 posts a week but the notification email won’t be sent until the following week. However, group members need to have switched on the preference that allows them to receive these. Until the post is emailed, it sits in the Recommended tab.

?? ? ?? ? ?? ?

Want to REALLY master LinkedIn? to achieve your professional goals?

Check out our Link?Ability site with dozens of hours of how-to videos, articles, interviews, podcasts – everything you need to know to achieve your professional goals using LinkedIn? whether you’re just starting out or have been on LinkedIn? for a while.

Grab your All Access Pass FREE for 7 days here.

?? ? ?? ? ?? ?

Recent and Upcoming Link?Ability Events

Oct 7 – Best Practices on LinkedIn: Unlock Your Success with Link.Ability! Lynnaire Johnston is interviewed by Md Ishaq Mohiuddin??

Topics covered include:

?? Proven strategies to improve your LinkedIn presence

?? Expert tips on profile optimization, content creation

?? Why Link?Ability is a must-have if you want to succeed on LinkedIn.

?? How to effectively use LinkedIn to build authority and awareness

Oct 10 – Link?Ability Radio with Lynnaire

In this event we take a look at cyber security and how we can protect ourselves and our LinkedIn accounts from hackers, scammers and other bad actors.

Oct 17 – Link?Ability Live: How AI Is Transforming LinkedIn and Changing Professional Life Forever with certified AI consultant MARY BRANDT

In this event we look at the impact AI is having on LinkedIn and what the future holds.

Oct 23 – Grow your LinkedIn Presence: Lynnaire Johnston is interviewed by marketing expert Stu Lees

Topics covered:

?? Be found and stand out in 2024

?? The rise of video and what it means for all of us

Oct 24 – Link?Ability Radio with Lynnaire

Discussing the latest new features, a topic of the day and an opportunity for you to ask questions or share your LinkedIn? experience.

Oct 31 – LinkedIn Live with Henry Oliver , author of Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life

It is never too late to change the professional direction of your life. If you're facing ageism in the workplace or want to follow your heart later in life, this interview will give you the courage and motivation to make changes.

These events will be added to our Linktree once they've been set up on LinkedIn?.

?? ? ?? ? ?? ?

You may have missed...

The best kept LinkedIn?? strategy you've never heard of!

Reach has collapsed on LinkedIn content recently, but here at Link?Ability, Lynnaire Johnston has found a way to keep your presence alive and well on LinkedIn. We call it the best kept strategy you've never heard of!

?? ? ?? ? ?? ?

Looking to Up Your LinkedIn? Game? Here are 5 ways we can help:

? Best-in-class profile makeovers

? Team training and upskilling on use of LinkedIn?

? 1-2-1 LinkedIn? mentoring

? Our tailored LinkedIn? marketing programme that helps you become the go-to expert in your field

? Our Link?Ability site free for 7 days at linkability.biz

Talk to us about what interests you most. DM Lynnaire Johnston or email her at [email protected]

?? ? ?? ? ?? ?

How to get in touch

Connect with or follow Lynnaire

Follow our Link?Ability company page

Email [email protected]